Cleaning Up Turnovers Big Key for Purdue Moving Forward
Protecting the basketball has always been a key piece to Purdue's success under Matt Painter. And while the Boilermakers have done a great job of avoiding turnovers in recent seasons, they struggled in that department on Monday night against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The mistakes started early and were never really corrected. Purdue had two quick turnovers in the first half of the season opener and had four by the first media timeout. At the end of the night, the Boilers were responsible for 16 turnovers, 10 of which were attributed to veterans Braden Smith (six) and Trey Kaufman-Renn (four).
Purdue got the win, defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 90-73 to start the year 1-0. But it was a sloppy performance, which started right after the opening tip.
"We start, we run the same play back-to-back (and) we have an illegal screen, then we step out of bounds," Painter said after the game. "We were going to get a good shot if we just executed the play."
It wasn't just the volume of the turnovers that stood out from Monday's opener. At times, the mistakes seemed careless. It was an uncharacteristic performance from a Purdue team that has averaged fewer than 12 turnovers per game in each of the last three years.
What was most surprising was that the mistakes came from Purdue's two most impactful players: Smith and Kaufman-Renn.
"I didn't think our concentration was great, especially from the guys who have played before," Painter said. "I think Fletcher (Loyer) did some good things offensively, but Braden and Trey had 10 turnovers between them. If we're going to be a great team, we're going to be a team that hovers around 10 turnovers, we just are."
Both Smith and Kaufman-Renn had solid performances, despite the turnovers. Smith finished the night with 12 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds. Kaufman-Renn closed out the game with 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
It was the mistakes that stuck with Smith, though.
"I had six of them. I've got to be better with that. I was just careless with it. I mean, you can say 15 assists, but I'm looking at six turnovers, and I've got to be better at that."
Purdue should be granted a little bit of grace. This is a team that played four freshman on Monday night: Gicarri Harris, CJ Cox, Daniel Jacobsen and Raleigh Burgess. It's still getting adjusted to a life without Zach Edey in the post. Plus, it was the first regular season game of the year.
Mistakes are going to happen. And, say what you will about the opponent, but Texas A&M-Corpus Christi finished last season with a 21-12 record and has a roster that's comprised of 12 juniors and seniors. That experience also caused some problems.
There's no question, Purdue is going to have to protect the basketball better. But is there cause for concern after just one game? Painter may have summed it up best with a simple answer.
"Show up Friday," he said. "I'm watching it just like you are."
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